Doughnuts

May 1st is Labor Day in Finland. We celebrate with something called sima and homemade doughnuts among other things. The donuts are usually deep fried (YUM!) but they can also be baked in the oven. You'll need a specially made doughnut pan which I found at my local Walmart.

Here is the recipe:

1/2 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree
1/2 cup sweet potato puree
1/2 cup nonfat milk or lowfat (1%) buttermilk
1 large egg white
1 tablespoon butter
1 tea spoon vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour or whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cardamom (optional but recommended)

Preheat oven to 350F and coat your doughnut pan with cooking spray.

Use a large bowl to beat together sugar, pumpkin, sweet potato, milk, egg white, butter, and vanilla. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and spices, and mix until well incorporated.



Pour the batter into the doughnut pan either from a gallon sized plastic bag, pipe in with a pastry bag or use a pitcher. You have to cut one corner of the plastic bag if you use that option... Just making sure you remember to do that :o)



Bake until the tops are lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean, 20-25min. Let the doughnuts cool on a rack and when cooled, decorate.



You can use powdered sugar to dust over, or make a glaze by mixing powdered sugar (1 cup), milk (1/4 c), vanilla (1 tsp) and softened butter (2 tablespoons). If the glaze is too liquidy, you can add more powdered sugar. Use food coloring to make different colors; I made pink and green. You could also melt some butter, dip the doughnuts in the butter and then roll in cinnamon/sugar mixture. The options are limitless!



This recipe is from the Deceptively Delicious cook book (NOT the glaze and cinn-sug topping options, they're just from my little brain) and the doughnuts are delicious. My kids love them as you can see from the pictures.